Barry Jones- February 22 | Canterbury Opinion | Local Voices from Canterbury, New Zealand

I went to Rome recently, with the other Catholic bishops from New Zealand. The purpose of the visit was the regular report-in, called the ad limina visit. Such visits by the Catholic bishops of the world take place at five-yearly intervals, if other events do not interfere with the schedule.

In case I was asked whether or not the earthquakes and aftershocks were affecting the life of the Catholic Church in the city of Christchurch I compared this year's annual survey of the numbers of adults and children coming to Sunday Mass with the surveys of the last few years. I was very interested to see that the earthquakes have had no effect on the number of persons coming to Sunday Mass.

In regard to the Catholic schools, the commitment of families to them has been strong and consistent. Families who have been displaced from their homes continue to make huge efforts to remain part of their school ( and parish ) community, often travelling across the city and past other schools to bring this about. A number of Catholic schools have buildings which have been damaged, some quite recently.

Two displaced schools, one primary and one secondary, have had to cope with repeated relocations , but are both operating strongly with excellent support from parents and staffs. The Catholic churches around the city and its surrounding areas have been badly affected, with more than two thirds of them out of use due to the danger they would represent in another major earthquake. Four churches have had to be demolished with one more on the waiting list.

The various parish communities affected by these for the present unusable churches continue to hold their liturgical celebrations such as Sunday Mass in parish facilities, schools, public halls and the churches of other Christian denominations.

Our major loss of course is that of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. For a hundred years, this extraordinary building was a witness to Catholic faith and also the liturgical and spiritual centre of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Christchurch to see it now in ruins is still a cause for grief and tears.

The Catholic Church, with all the citizens of Canterbury, is now facing a future the outline of which is not clear. New houses will be built in areas that are now open country. Former suburbs were built on land that cannot be used for housing again.

The demolition of hundreds of houses will clear new panoramas of the city. Planning for new churches and perhaps new schools will have to take all this into account but it is already clear to me that Catholic people who value their faith are determined to keep on keeping on.

* Barry Jones if the Catholic Bishop of Christchurch